@ballofconfusion My daycare is $800/month and includes pre-k. Bussing to and from school after care is an additional $50. Maybe there’s an all-in-one solution near you.
Preschool Problem -- Is it worth it?
- Thread starter ballofconfusion
- Start date
@ballofconfusion I'd stick with daycare. Kiddo is getting socialized and it fits your schedule better. It's not like they are learning how to cure cancer or college prep at this time.
davidschmitt
New member
@ballofconfusion If you love your daycare, I would totally stay in it! As others have mentioned, maybe check into kindergarten readiness standards and ask your childcare provider how they might incorporate activities throughout the day to prepare for those. In all likelihood, your childcare provider is already prepping your kid for kindergarten almost exactly like any pre-k would in every developmental domain (social emotional, cognitive, linguistic, physical). Some people say prek is important because it gets kids adapted to the structure/routines of school, but those structures/routines honestly aren’ developmentally appropriate for many pre-k kids. They’ll pick those things up once they’re in K! Plus finding a daycare you love is invaluable so I would keep enjoying it if that’s your intuition!
astrophysicsstudent
New member
@ballofconfusion Anecdotally, my sister and I didn’t go to preschool for the same reason: our parents found an amazing in-home daycare provider, always 6 kids or less and most of the time just us and her two daughters, who are around the same age and who we’re still best friends with. I remember there being some talk about preschool at one point, but it just didn’t make sense: we didn’t get a ton of variety in socialization, but we got good socialization (and lifelong friends!) I also actually remember us all playing “preschool” together around ages 3-5 
Not a lesson plan per se, but my mom would send over random printed papers from her work and we’d all take turns being the teacher and do things like “circle all the 3s”, “color all the A’s blue”, etc. And of course we read, and the mom took us to the library and stuff too, played pretend outside…all the good stuff! If your daycare also has activities, play, and all those things (and you’re not concerned about your kiddos learning needs otherwise), then all the more reason to skip preschool. I would add that my parents read to us a lot, and we were both early readers, so there weren’t any concerns about us needing to catch up academically (which likely would have been a factor.)
Plus, after we were in school (like kindergarten and up) we still went to the same daycare provider for after school care. If that’s something you’ll need and still plan to do, it probably won’t make much sense to do preschool just for the sake of the one or two extra years of being around different people half the day.
All that to say, it’s totally ok to skip preschool if that’s what makes the most sense to your family! And I’m biased, but I wouldn’t have changed our daycare situation for anything.
Not a lesson plan per se, but my mom would send over random printed papers from her work and we’d all take turns being the teacher and do things like “circle all the 3s”, “color all the A’s blue”, etc. And of course we read, and the mom took us to the library and stuff too, played pretend outside…all the good stuff! If your daycare also has activities, play, and all those things (and you’re not concerned about your kiddos learning needs otherwise), then all the more reason to skip preschool. I would add that my parents read to us a lot, and we were both early readers, so there weren’t any concerns about us needing to catch up academically (which likely would have been a factor.)Plus, after we were in school (like kindergarten and up) we still went to the same daycare provider for after school care. If that’s something you’ll need and still plan to do, it probably won’t make much sense to do preschool just for the sake of the one or two extra years of being around different people half the day.
All that to say, it’s totally ok to skip preschool if that’s what makes the most sense to your family! And I’m biased, but I wouldn’t have changed our daycare situation for anything.
@ballofconfusion There is nothing wrong with an extra year of play. My older kid missed out on preschool because of the height of the pandemic and he's doing great. Daycare prepared him just fine. My youngest is going to Kindergarten next year and we looked for a preschool and just couldn't get into one because of a new program put forth in the state we live in. He also attends a small daycare and he's been with mostly the same kids for as long as he can remember. He'll move onto kinder without them but I'm not worried. We love our daycare provider and will miss her so much when we go. Play is good for kids! So is college money you can save. They will adjust to school when it's time.
icemaster108
New member
@ballofconfusion Hi, it's me, skipping preschool it's me. My daughter will be 4 this summer. She goes to an in home daycare. Our preschool is half day and much of it is even off site due to demand, so it's basically a less convenient daycare.
We both work full time, so no one to coordinate the half day business, it would have to be yet another daycare that has pickup. I pretty much threw my hands up and said why bother. She can count, knows the alphabet, can spell her name. She does activities and knows how to take turns.
The world is designed against two parent working homes so we won't be doing preschool.
We both work full time, so no one to coordinate the half day business, it would have to be yet another daycare that has pickup. I pretty much threw my hands up and said why bother. She can count, knows the alphabet, can spell her name. She does activities and knows how to take turns.
The world is designed against two parent working homes so we won't be doing preschool.
@ballofconfusion To me it would depend on the daycare, and what education standards they have.
My 4.5 year old is in daycare, but it's an educational based corporate daycare. The rooms go from: infant, toddler, discovery preschool, preschool, TK and then "School Aged".
We had the same dilemma when he started TK age, the local TK is only a couple hours a day and we work full time. So we are keeping him in his daycare until kindergarten... but he is in the TK class. I would be much LESS inclined to do this if it was an at home daycare or more of a child care / babysitter and less of an educational environment. But if it IS an educational based daycare, then they are getting the same (if not better) prep where they are.
My 4.5 year old is in daycare, but it's an educational based corporate daycare. The rooms go from: infant, toddler, discovery preschool, preschool, TK and then "School Aged".
We had the same dilemma when he started TK age, the local TK is only a couple hours a day and we work full time. So we are keeping him in his daycare until kindergarten... but he is in the TK class. I would be much LESS inclined to do this if it was an at home daycare or more of a child care / babysitter and less of an educational environment. But if it IS an educational based daycare, then they are getting the same (if not better) prep where they are.
universalsaint
New member
@ballofconfusion I just know how pre-school helped my boys who are both extremely successful (no thanks to me but a lot has to do with the jump in learning young)
@ballofconfusion We switched from our home daycare to a center in February. The center allows our daughter to socialize and learn. She's THRIVING. She lived the home daycare but she had grown out of it. We'll have full day preschool in August at a parochial school. Costs less than daycare, and full day. Works out. The public (free) schools all have that terrible half day schedule that I can't manage with work. So 1) look into a center that does educational activities to be your go to instead of actual preschool or 2) look into a private school that better fits your expectations.